In recent weeks, it has seemed that Russia will do anything to make people remember the most expensive Olympic Games in history. They have drilled through mountains and imported a killer whale named Narnia as part of a £31 billion gamble, but the one thing they cannot do is make this snow stuff safe.

Katie Summerhayes is well aware of that. She is only 18, but the Sheffield teenager has had two knee reconstructions and had to wrestle with fears that her nascent career might be over almost before it had started. Now she is preparing to compete in the